


New Beginnings

by sleepismyfriend



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-22
Updated: 2010-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-10 21:41:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/104605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepismyfriend/pseuds/sleepismyfriend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the second day of Tristan Edward Smith's life, everything changes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> This is the last Doctor, and he's played by Gary Oldman. Go on, you know you want to read now.

It was a tiny fist wrapped around her first finger that made Sarah Jane Smith one of the happiest women in the universe. She looked down at the sleeping newborn and just smiled.

The last nine months had most certainly been filled full of life-changing events for everyone in her small-extended family. When they sat down and awkwardly told her, she was extremely upset at her young son, but even more so at Maria.

It had been barely five years since they had rescued Luke from Wormwood and the Bubbleshock factory. Even though they had passed their A-levels and were nearly grown, she still felt like she needed to protect Luke for his own good.

The initial anger wore off, and Sarah calmed to the idea. It only took one incident with a frantic weevil for Maria to be convinced that Sarah's over protectiveness was for good reason. She didn't generally question Sarah after that, just waited for all of them to come home and fill her in on the missing details.

An unexpected yet familiar whirl of engines broke Sarah from her thoughts, but she didn't move a single muscle. No, she would wait for the Doctor to appear. To see which one of his selves made their appearance on such a day.

His stride was rather quiet down the hallway, and Sarah took a deep breath. When she finally looked up towards the door, he was leaning against the frame with his arms crossed.

"Hello, Sarah Jane." His smile was definitely something she was going to have to relearn, she thought. His dark brown hair was peppered with grey, something else she was going to have to get used to again.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Doctor?"

"Oh, not so long." His eyes darted back and forth from the baby to her, and he continued smiling.

"Almost three years." Sarah placed one hand under the baby's head and the other towards his bottom as she shifted to sit upwards. The baby snuggled down to her chest, and she made sure he was supported before moving any further. "Haven't seen you since after that mess with the Master."

"You know how it is." The Doctor looked to the floor, shoving his hands in his pockets much like his tenth self used to do. "Picked up a few companions here and there. Had a few adventures."

"You also regenerated." Sarah had little doubt in her mind as to what happened the last day that she saw him. From the Doctor's silence, she knew she had hit the nail on the head. "Which one of you is this one?"

"The last one," the Doctor sighed. "Been about four-hundred years since I saw you last."

"Four-hundred? Why so long?"

"Because I was trying not to."

"Oh." Sarah tried her best not to take offense with that. "Martha saw you. About six months back. Said you were with some young girl, running for your lives."

"Hmm." The Doctor scratched his chin before recrossing his arms. "Doesn't surprise me. Probably my eleventh self. He was a hellion, that one. Got into much worse scrapes than my previous ten selves ever did."

"Sounds like you." Sarah rubbed up and down the baby's back, keeping her touch calm and steady as she stood. "You picked a good day to come."

"Oh? Why's that, Sarah?" His smile was infectious, but Sarah had always known that. She moved closer towards him, her focus never leaving the baby.

"Because, I'd like to introduce you to my grandson, Tristan Edward Smith." Sarah positioned her arms to hand over the precious bundle and the Doctor's arms readily accepted them. It had been a long time since he had held a baby, and this particular baby seemed to relax in his arms.

"He's beautiful."

"Think so? I'm rather biased, myself. I think he's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen," Sarah said, proudly with a grin. He took a step out of the doorway and into Sarah's bedroom, reveling in the experience of holding something new that the universe had created.

It was moments like this that he missed Susan terribly.

Sarah watched him, smiling all the more for his sudden arrival. He had his back to her as he paced, but she couldn't help but hear all the little endearments the Doctor was saying. Sighing contently, she leaned against the doorframe and watched the sight for a moment before he turned again.

"If he grows up to be anything like his dad, then he's got some of you in him. Adopted or not," the Doctor said, and Sarah wiped a tear away. "We Smiths are a inquisitive lot, aren't we, Tristan? Yes, we certainly are. How's Maria?"

"Exhausted. I took the baby so they could both get some rest. Maria was up half the night pacing, and Luke's been working with K-9 on some temporal distortion." Sarah waved her hands. "I stopped him after his third attempt at explaining. It's more complicated than most."

"I'll take a look. Give the new dad a chance to spend time with his family." The Doctor came towards her then, and Sarah touched his arms as they both peered down at the baby. He looked at Sarah, his grin widening as he looked back to the baby. "I'm so glad I waited, Sarah."

"You waited?" Sarah studied his face for several seconds before he looked at her, and nodded.

"Yeah-" Luke appeared suddenly, taking them both off guard, and Sarah knew that the time for explanations was later.

\--

  
"I know I promised that I would take you both with me one day." The Doctor started, standing when the other two were sitting close together on the sofa in Sarah's living room. Maria was holding Tristan, gently patting his back and keeping him comfortable. "But with that little one, I just can't. You understand, right? Both of you?"

"We understand, Doctor," Luke said, his arm around Maria's shoulders. He looked to her, and it didn't matter. They both knew what they had sacrificed on Tristan's behalf.

"Good."

"You should take Sarah Jane with you," Maria said next, pointing out the obvious when she wasn't sure that the Doctor was prepared to hear what she had to say. Sarah wasn't in the room, and Maria was glad. For all the years she had known her, she knew that Sarah's one true wish was to travel with the Doctor again. "It's all she's ever wanted. There's no reason for her to say no."

"I don't know. That little one is fairly good reason enough." The Doctor shoved his hands back into his pockets.

"We'll take care of him. Sarah Jane need not worry about that." Maria replied. "Besides, she can always pop in from time to time, make sure that we're raising him right. Think about it."

The Doctor sighed and nodded his head slowly.

"I know you'll watch out and take care of her, Doctor," Luke said. "But Maria's right. Mum deserves a bit of happiness. After everything that's happened, I know you'll give her that much."

"With everything," the Doctor said. Sarah entered the room immediately after that. From the look on their faces, she knew that she had been the topic of discussion and that's when Maria began to get up and motion Luke out of the room. Luke had closed the door behind them before Sarah began to speak, her arms crossed.

"You said you waited." She watched him cross the room, picking up random objects and putting them back down again before facing her. "Four-hundred years? Why?"

"Does it even need to be said? I'm nearly fifteen hundred years old, Sarah. That's nearly twice as long as when we first met. No matter how you look at it. How many years have passed for you since Linx? Almost forty?"

"Thirty-eight last month," Sarah replied, rather defiantly. "Is that why you never came back then?"

"Don't be stupid, of course it was why I didn't come back. Did you really think I ever wanted to leave you in Aberdeen? No, it was because I loved you and thought I could go back and live the rest of my life with you at the end." The Doctor was growing increasing frustrated, resuming his pacing. "Deffry Vale botched that up, but no matter! Because it brought you Luke. It brought you Maria. It gave you a family, here on Earth that I couldn't. The last time I saw you, I knew that I couldn't risk it anymore. So, I stayed away. For good."

"You saved Luke."

"Of course, I saved Luke. I thought I was going to die, Sarah. I thought I was going to die, and all I could think of was that I needed to save Luke for you. So that your heart didn't break because of something I did, again."

"Thank you," she replied softly, the tears in her eyes. After all this time, she realized a great many things that made sense, and her relief obviously showed.

"You're welcome," the Doctor said, changing his tone as well. There was a great pause before either of them spoke again. "I want you to come with me, Sarah. Spend your days in the universe, traveling the stars again. Earth will always be here for you."

"I don't know," Sarah replied, much to the Doctor's delight, although he didn't fully let it show. He was standing much closer to her now, the space between them seemingly disappearing. "The universe is getting a bit big for a lowly human like me."

"That's just what you think. I want to show you what's out there. Things that you haven't seen, smells you haven't smelled and foods your mind can't even comprehend. There are civilizations that haven't been created yet, and I want you to be there with me when they are born. You turned me down once all ready, please don't turn me down again. This time, it's just you and me across the stars. What do you say?"

"Alright," Sarah said rather smugly. She wasn't fully prepared for his arms to lift her up into the air and spin her around a couple of times. When he finally lowered her, she realized that the height difference would be a significant advantage as he looked down at her and grinned.

"Okay, Sarah, no more tricks," he said quietly.

"No more tricks?"

"Not when I've waited almost half my life for this." And with that, he leaned into kiss her.


End file.
